Clerks Has Been Fired

After only two airings, ABC has cancelled Kevin Smiths animated TV series CLERKS. The teen-targeted toon debuted on May 31 with a poor rating of 5.2 and slipped to a 4.1 for its Tuesday, June 6 episode. Insiders say that ABC became initially scared of the toon when advertisers balked on its edgy humor. The series was original scheduled to be a 1999-2000 midseason replacement series. Advertising jitters may have lead to ABCs decision to make the toon a summer release, which drew much publicized heat from creator Kevin Smith [AWN 3/13/00]. The director of films such as DOGMA and MALLRATS even declared he wanted to buy the series from ABC and edit it into a feature film. However, the hip humor didnt even bring in die-hard Smith fans. Recently, many other new teen-adult-geared toons have come and gone. GOD THE DEVIL AND BOB drew a lot of flack for it depiction of a Jerry Garcia-like God and was cancelled after only 4 episodes. Likewise, the often disliked "mean" humor of FAMILY GUY has lead to the series being lifted from Foxs Fall lineup, leaving the show in silent limbo on whether or not it will be relocated to a new address. With the iffy SAMMY, which centers on a dead-beat dad, scheduled to premiere later this summer, the fate of toons in primetime is up in the air.